Mark Wahlberg was "blown out" of getting the Fifty Shades of Grey movie rights because it was too expensive.

The Ted actor was in talks to acquire E.L. James' best-selling trilogy for his production company, but a "bidding war" meant he lost out to Universal Pictures and Focus Features.

He explained on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night: "We had the early beat on it [the book] and we were close to getting it but it didn't happen.

"We were in contact through our agency with the writer. Then she got another agent and they realised what a valuable property it was, created a bidding war and it just blew us out of it. "

Though he is disappointed to have lost out on the series, Mark, 42, is "really excited" about another project he has in the pipeline - a movie version of Entourage, the comedy-drama series which starred Adrian Grenier and ran for eight seasons until 2011.

(Image: Rex)

He said: "I'd been clawing and scratching and trying to convince everyone to do it and we finally agreed that it is the best thing.

"I'm really excited that the guys are coming back, I know fans have really missed the show, so to get those guys back, doing what they do, will be great for the fans."